Yankees manage just four hits in loss to Phillies

A Yankees offense that totaled nine homers over the first four games of the season was destined to cool off.

That inevitability came to fruition Tuesday night.

Shut down by Phillies lefthander Matt Strahm for four innings and then four relievers the rest of the way, the Yankees went mostly quietly, 4-1, in front of 35,392 at the Stadium.

“They made their pitches when they needed to,” said Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-3 but did walk in the ninth inning to extend his career-high on-base streak to 38 games. “When they needed to come up with the big pitch or a big out, Strahm and the rest of their bullpen was able to do it tonight.”

The Yankees (3-2) did get a ninth-inning homer by DJ LeMahieu to get on the board and they got the tying run to the plate against Craig Kimbrel after Judge walked with one out and Giancarlo Stanton singled with two. Josh Donaldson fouled out to end it.

The Yankees were outhit by the Phillies (1-4), 10-4, and many of those in attendance took out their frustration on wildly unpopular outfielder Aaron Hicks, who was booed throughout a 0-for-3 performance.  

Domingo German allowed four runs and four hits – including two homers – over 4 2/3 innings, though two of those runs came when Michael King allowed a pair of inherited runners to score in the fifth. King, whose fastball velocity is slightly down, allowed four hits for a second straight outing.

“I haven’t been getting it done,” King said. “Mechanically it feels like my timing’s a little off. I’d much rather give up my own runs than [German’s]. I spoiled a pretty good start.”

The inning would have ended with the Yankees down just 2-0 had Anthony Volpe successfully turned a double play on a routine grounder hit by Brandon Marsh but the rookie shortstop failed to field the ball cleanly, which resulted in one out instead of two. Three straight hits followed for the 4-0 lead.

“I have to make that play,” Volpe said. “It was a big point in the game.”

German retired Phillies leadoff man Trea Turner on his first pitch of the night, but Kyle Schwarber blasted his second pitch, a 93-mph fastball, to deep right for a 1-0 lead.

German, who did feature a terrific curveball that helped him strike out eight, saw Marsh scorch a full-count fastball to make it 2-0.

“Sometimes when you’re trying to attack with certain pitches and it’s not exactly the location you want, sometimes you pay for it,” German said through his interpreter of the home run pitches. “Especially hitters like those.”

Strahm made it eight straight retired to start the game in the bottom half of the third, a streak broken up by Volpe when he stung a single to center. That made it five straight games to start the season in which the rookie shortstop reached base at least once.

The Phillies put two more on in the fifth and would push two runs across, aided by Volpe’s miscue. Jake Cave, a former Yankee, singled with one out and was replaced at first when Marsh grounded to Volpe. Near the second base bag fielding the grounder, Volpe saw the ball smack off of his glove and the 21-year-old only had time to, with his foot on the bag, retrieve the ball to record the inning’s second out.

No. 9 hitter Garrett Stubbs hit a soft liner to left for a hit and Aaron Boone removed German, who had thrown 75 pitches, and replaced him with King to face Turner. King got ahead of the All-Star shortstop 1-and-2, but Turner punched the next pitch, a slider, to right for an RBI single to make it 3-0. Schwarber followed and singled sharply to right on a full-count changeup to make it 4-0.

“Might have taken a little bit of a tricky hop, I don’t know,” Boone said of the double play not turned. “But I think that’s one we’ve got to have.”